A Haven family was found dead after a fire on the 14900 block of Riverside Trail in Grand Haven Township on Friday morning. The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said eight people died of gunshot wounds, and authorities believe Kristopher Karolkiewicz killed them before setting the home on fire and taking his own life.
Among the dead were Amanda Karolkiewicz, 39, her six children and Kristopher Karolkiewicz, 47. Relatives identified the children as Keegan, Bennett, Caroline, Ella, Smith and Teddy, and said the family’s pets also died in the fire.
Amanda Karolkiewicz on TikTok
The case is tied to Amanda Karolkiewicz’s recent posts about a trip to China with Ella and Caroline. On July 16, she wrote, “What an awesome experience with my precious daughters” and “We are so proud of their Chinese heritage.” She and her daughters returned from China on July 17, and police later found her dead eight days after the post.
Becky and Steve Lawwill said in a statement Monday, “Our daughter Mandy was a kind and devoted soul who loved her family and her students,” and the family created a GoFundMe to help with legal expenses. The posts and the family statement place the killings alongside ordinary family moments that ended days later in a fire investigators now link to a murder-suicide.
Jake Sparks on Monday
Jake Sparks said Monday afternoon, “It's obviously a terrible tragedy,” and added, “We're trying to get answers about what happened leading up to the incident.” He also said, “... We believe this incident could've started the night before and then carried over into the early morning hours (of Friday). There were reports of the smell of smoke early in the morning.”
The sheriff’s office ruled Amanda Karolkiewicz’s death and the deaths of the six children homicides and ruled Kristopher Karolkiewicz’s death a suicide. It said the victims were killed with a handgun, while investigators continue to piece together the sequence from Thursday evening into Friday morning and the motive remains the open question in the case.
